Savoia E Campana Montecatini Terme

Kim had taken her grandma to Lucca last November and had fallen in love with the place. <br><br>We found a park not far from the city walls and then headed in for a look. We came across a chocolate festival in one of the piazzas and sampled a few beforw buying a hot cocolate drink...literally hot chocolate in a cup. It made me feel a bit sick.<br><br>Walking Lucca is like a big ...

... to the table. We strolled to our seats, which were at a table for four with two others who had arrived earlier (part of the Il Latini culture), and gazed above at the endless swine rumps hanging from the ceiling. The table had a huge bottle of half full red wine and the first course was nothing but pork in various forms. Needless to say, this wasn't the best culinary choice for Kate's taste, and she did her best. She asked for no ...

... For almost a year, Chris and I have been referencing our Tuscan dinner whenever we have some extra spare change to tuck away: this is for our Tuscan dinner! Well, tonight was the night and it was soooo worth the wait. It's truffle season in Tuscany and there are few things we love more than truffles. Three hours later, we closed the place after an amazing five course meal near a roaring fire. It was yet another "pinch me" moment.<br><br>:)<br><br><br>

Just realized those not on facebook haven't seen pictures from Pisa and Florence. No long recap of Anthony and I's weekend in Tuscany, for obvious reasons. Also note that "Anthony and Alison's Great Adventure" was like taking a knife.<br><br>Love you guys! :)<br>

... on the next hill. Drove all around the countryside (which I hate to say is much bigger and impressive than Napa). Wine is so cheap and good but unfortunately the majority of grapes had just been picked. Also ventured into Florence for two days of sightseeing. This is one place that is as magnificent as tpublished pictures!

... out of my mouth is please, thank you and you want how much?! From the riviera we headed straight to the Cinque Terre for two nights. We stayed in Riomaggiora in a studio apartment rented from Mar Mar. They are a local company that own a number of apartments that they rent at reasonable rates. Again we had a kitchen which helps cut back the costs. The Cinque Terre is a series of five towns that you walk through. The walk is only about 9km but the last two ...

We arrived in Firenze (Florence) at around 3pm (side note: Josh is finally taking the lead in the running gin game). We found our hostel after taking only a minor detour and got settled in. We then headed just down the street to Galleria Dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's "David". It truly is an amazing sculpture that has to be seen to be truly appreciated. The level of detail is amazing and he looks so real that you almost expect him to ...

... part (Inferno) of Dante's Divina Commedia in English. Of course, when I was so well prepared, I only had to wait for three minutes in the Vodafone shop. After a lot of wandering around (yes, and getting lost, but only a little...) I managed to find a fluffy scarf I have been looking for myself for quite a time now. It's black and glittery and fluffy and cute, althought you probably can't judge that from the bad picture here ...

... so much about the pieces when we're walking around, they're little encycolopedias. After the museo Lindsey, Tess, Maike, and I went to lunch at Leonardo's, a famous tavola calda (aka a nice version of a buffet). It was so good and cheap! Then we went to Zara's, this fantastic clothes store thats in Europe. It's like a nice version of Forever21 (Lauren, Anne, you'd LOVE it). We spent like, 2 hours there. In the afternoon we went to ...

The weather has started to turn colder here in Florence, and according to my purple flowered planner Fall started about a week ago. We have been experiencing sporadic spouts of rain which can last for a couple hours and then clear up by the early afternoon. My language classes are coming to a close and we will be having our first real break in about 3 weeks before fall semester classes begin. My roommates and I are planning to explore ...